Subject:
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RE: HELLO?!, LEGO CO. ! was: Will the educational arm of Technic & Mindstorms continue?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Mon, 12 Jan 2004 20:36:33 GMT
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Original-From:
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Rob Limbaugh <rlimbaugh@greenfieldgroupANTISPAM.com>
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Viewed:
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1173 times
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Disclaimer: My opinions are my own. Read at your own risk.
I think it's very important that we all understand that the educational
arm (Pitsco-Dacta) and the consumer arm operate under two completely
different marketing concepts. That's why the educational products are
packaged, sold, and advertised differently than the "RIS" sets. It's
also why the software from Pitsco-Dacta (Robolab) is Clone _and_ Mac
compatible.
Basically, LEGO has made a commitment to education that they will honor.
That means RCX's, motors, etc. will be available for some time. It also
means there is hope for RCX 3.0. Those things don't necessarily have
anything to do with general consumers (or their needs).
I took all of LEGO's statements to mean that they are going to shift the
technology based sets (i.e. Mindstorms) towards education, where they
seem to be flourishing rather than let them collect dust on toy store
shelves. That makes sense... Mindstorms sells itself in the educational
arena.
Mindstorms doesn't sell itself on a store shelf very well. One reason
is the price. I also think the box is rather inundating... It shows a
bunch of technical things to build, but doesn't show an "adventure" (as
the box covers for other themed sets show). Ironically, parents have no
problems dishing out $200 for the latest game system and $50 per game to
melt their kids' minds...
I also think the reference to electronic merchandise meant anything that
involved a regular computer to run. From a support perspective, you
must always plan for users having install problems (even for the PC
versions of LEGO games). The support is much easier if you just pump
out Gameboy, Playstation, and Xbox software because those units aren't
typically customized by the user (adding to support headaches).
The references to going back to basics means to me that LEGO is learning
that they _aren't_ everyone else... They are _LEGO_ and they need to
quit attempting to imitate everyone else.
So now that they realize that they have to make some changes. But, they
have to make the changes in a manner that doesn't compromise their
commitments. If they fail to honor what they have committed to, then
they tarnish their name, which they can't risk.
And, even if we see a mass markdown on LEGO merchandise in the next few
months, it doesn't necessarily mean the end of a line. Perhaps, it
could be the signal of a new and emerging product.
Regardless, I'll continue to buy their product if I can. What I really
hope is that LEGO takes this opportunity to start listening to what
their customers want (including us adults)--and actually doing it.
- Rob
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Tarrabain [mailto:markt@lynx.SPAMBLOCK.net]
> Sent: Monday, January 12, 2004 1:08 PM
> To: lego-robotics@crynwr.com
> Subject: Re: HELLO?!, LEGO CO. ! was: Will the educational
> arm of Technic & Mindstorms continue?
>
> Dirk Schlei wrote:
>
>
> > Have you seen Jake McKee's statement?
> >
> > "... Mindstorms is not going away, but may continue to evolve. Like
> > all technology products, Mindstorms will continue to grow • and improve
> > as consumers gain new technology knowledge and technology itself
> > continues to get better and smaller. ..."
>
> Okay, then when LEGO said they would be dropping their
> electronics and movie tie in products, exactly what did they
> mean by "electronics" then?
> Mindstorms has been, afaik, LEGO's chief electronic product
> recently.
> We have two apparently mutually exclusive statements here,
> both from LEGO. You'll have to forgive me if I seeem more
> than a little confused.
>
> > > Mark
>
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